The present inventions relates to an improved, high-explosive, anti-tank land mine containing a plurality of explosive charges, and fuze means for initiating the charges in a particular sequence, in response to a signal produced by the presence of a tank or other armored vehicle.
Bearce U.S. Pat. No. 3,216,354, granted Nov. 9, 1965, disclosed a land mine, intended to be placed underground, including a cylindrical housing containing a main high explosive shaped main charge having a lower flat surface and an upper dish-shaped surface which is lined with a metal plate or cover member of frangible or malleable material. An auxiliary clearing charge is carried by a removable top plate of the housing (above the shaped charge) together with a primer and an impact fuze mechanism adapted to be actuated by a vehicle to actuate the primer to initiate the clearing charge. Explosion of the clearing charge (1) blows the overburden and the top plate off the housing to expose the shaped charge and (2) actuates a firing mechanism which initiates a delay charge which, after a predetermined time interval, initiates the shaped charge.
An object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved high-explosive anti-tank, land mine.
In accordance with the present invention, the land mine of the Bearce patent is modified and improved by (1) substituting a hardened metal plate for the frangible or malleable liner of Bearce, to function as a hypervelocity projectile; (2) making the mine double-ended, with a concave surface on each end of the main charge lined with a hardened metal plate, a removable end plate or wall at each end of the housing, and a clearing charge at each end between the main charge and the end wall, whereby the mine can be carried into the air, e.g. by an artillery projectile, ejected over the target area, deployed and come to rest by gravity on either end, instead of being placed underground; and (3) providing the mine with means including a gravity-controlled switch for initiating the upper clearing charge only, thereby removing the upper end wall only and exposing the upper end of the main charge, in response to a firing signal, e.g. derived from a proximity fuze, prior to initiation of the main charge. The gravity-controlled switch may, for example, be a liquid mercury switch having at least three electrodes.